Contribution to international development report: 2018-2019

Introduction

Part 1: Content of the Report

This 2018/19 Report once again brings together the Scottish Government’s overall contribution to international development, through the:

• International Development Fund (IDF): managed by the International Development Team, working to Minister for Europe, Migration and International Development [Cs1-5, and 12];
• Humanitarian Emergency Fund (HEF): managed by the International Development Team, working to Minister for Europe, Migration and International Development [C.6];
• Climate Justice Fund (CJF): managed as part of the work of the International Climate Change Team (two main programmes: Climate Challenge Programme Malawi and Climate Justice Innovation Fund) and the Water Industry Team (Water Futures Programme), both teams working to Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform [Cs.7 & 8]; and
• Policies and work of wider Ministerial portfolios: which contribute to international development outcomes [Cs7-11].

Part 2: Background to the Report

This report once again takes a holistic look at a wide cross-section of Scottish Government international development activity, over the period 2018/19, and presents it within the context of the UN Global Goals.

International development remains a key part of Scotland’s global contribution within the international community. In these challenging times, where there can be feelings of negativity towards internationalism and international development, we continue to place great importance on Scotland being a good global citizen. This means playing our part in tackling global challenges including poverty, injustice and inequality, as part of an interconnected global community.

Remaining at the forefront of our efforts is our annual International Development Fund, whose main aim is to support initiatives in our partner countries: Malawi, Rwanda, Zambia, and Pakistan. Increasingly however, we are working across other Scottish Government Ministerial portfolios for positive international development outcomes, as part of our commitment on the “Beyond Aid” agenda, and so this report also captures those contributions.

This is the second year of producing this report, and we continue to expect that it will develop over time. In the 2017-2018 Report, we highlighted in particular that we expected the report to change over time as the revised National Performance Framework (NPF) bedded in, and that we would consider the interaction in future between our commitment to produce an annual international development report and reporting under the new NPF.

The “Contribution of development support to other nations” indicator is linked to the “We are open, connected and make a positive contribution internationally” National Outcome in the NPF. Over the period 2018/19 that this report covers, we have been working on the development of a new indicator, which seeks to measure the contribution of Scottish international development activity, and to establish how it could be captured consistently. The aim of the indicator is not to capture financial input, but to assess impact in a broader ‘beyond aid’ context. As we continue the work to develop the NPF indicator in anticipation that it will be in place for June 2020, this 2019 Report will retain the same format as the 2018 Report.

Part 3: Context of the Report

Our International Development work is funded from within the Scottish Government’s own budget and, like any other part of that budget, is subject to Scottish Parliament approval and scrutiny. Our official development assistance (ODA) spend is included by UK Government within its overall ODA return to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and is counted by the UK towards its commitment to spend 0.7% of Gross National Income (GNI) on ODA.

What we seek to capture in this Report, therefore, is that additional contribution which the Scottish Government makes to international development within that devolved constitutional context – whether through our three Funds (IDF, CJF and the HEF), or through wider policy activity across our Ministerial portfolios.

Brexit Implication for international Development

There is ongoing uncertainty over the UK’s future relationship with the EU.

The Scottish Government’s position on leaving the EU has been clear and consistent since the referendum in 2016. Scotland said No to Brexit and it is the duty of the Scottish Government to protect Scotland’s interests.

We believe that a second EU referendum should be held, with the option to remain on the ballot paper. This should be enabled by a further extension of the article 50 period.

The Scottish Government has repeatedly warned the UK Government that leaving the EU would be deeply damaging to Scotland’s economy and communities, and leaving without a deal would be catastrophic.

We will continue to do all we can to mitigate the impact of leaving the EU, though it is clear it will not be possible to remove that impact entirely.

As the recent Programme for Government set out, we intend to offer the people of Scotland the choice of a better and more positive future as an independent nation.

With the possibility of a no deal continuing to loom over us, Bond, the UK network for organisations working in international development, has highlighted that:

“UK-based CSOs have been dealing with the fallout created by undefined withdrawal arrangements on ongoing and future EU-funded programmes for months. Even with the UK’s commitment to underwrite all EU-funded contracts in the event of a no deal, the options for UK CSOs seeking EU funds are unclear.

Organisations are already diversifying their funding sources or shifting their EU fundraising operations out of the UK or establishing new operations in EU countries. UK organisations have traditionally played leading roles in established international partnerships and networks on programming, policy and advocacy, but they now face losing their influence and position, as well as the other benefits of working with partners in the EU and beyond.

The precariousness of the pound sterling is potentially a greater concern. Currency volatility affects predictability, long-term planning and CSOs’ sustainability. A weaker pound means that there will be less money to deliver programmes and support the most vulnerable. Sterling’s decreasing value also means higher import costs from poorer countries and reduces the value of UK aid spending, investment and remittances.

As well as increased costs of trading with the UK, poorer countries could face reduced demand for their exports and increased bureaucracy”.

On 21 August, Gross National Income (GNI) highlighted the uncertainty that UK iNGOs are facing as the UK’s agreed date to leave the European Union on 31 October 2019 fast approached. Bond set out “6 Things for NGOs to consider” regarding how Brexit might affect their work in international development. These included: Changes in the UK’s policy influence; Currency fluctuations; Access to EU funding; Employing EU nationals; and Visas. Read here.

The UK Government’s 2015 Aid Strategy focuses on aligning development aid to the UK’s national interest. In the period 2018/19, Prime Minister Theresa May stated that she was “unashamed” to ensure that British aid works for the UK’s domestic interests, as post-Brexit deals are pursued. In contrast, the Scottish Government continues to support focussing UK aid on areas where eradicating poverty and tackling inequalities are prioritised, rather than where aid is designed and targeted to serve the UK’s own national interests.

Speaking at the Alliance’s Conference on 25 September 2018, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said:

“For our part, promoting international development is an absolutely essential part of being a good global citizen. It’s worth stressing that point, given some of the discussions taking place elsewhere on these islands. The Scottish Government does not believe, we never have believed and will never see, that aid is given primarily for our own national interest”.

Part 4: Key Cross-Cutting Themes of the Report

There are again key themes that have been integral to both our approach to our international development work during 2018/19, as well as forming strands of work in themselves. These include: policy coherence for development; working collaboratively with civil society; governance and safeguarding; and human rights.

Policy coherence for development: “do no harm” and additional value

In our international development work, the Scottish Government is committed to an international “do no harm” approach and identifying policies beyond international development policy that can contribute positively to development outcomes. Again, in her speech at the Alliance’s September 2018 Conference, the First Minister said:

“As all of you know in your day to day work, international development work does not stand in isolation from everything else that government does. So we need to ensure that our wider policies do not undermine our international development programme.

In fact we go further – we try to ensure, where possible, that policy areas actively support international development”.

This report therefore again documents the key areas of Scottish Government work across other Ministerial portfolios which in 2018/19 have been supporting international aims and contributing positively to development outcomes.

Outwith the Scottish Government, during the period 2018/19, we have continued to involve civil society as our global health work develops, and we have additionally set in motion discussions with civil society on climate proofing our international development work and on global citizenship education through education policy.

We have also continued to core fund civil society networking organisations in Scotland: Scotland’s International Development Alliance (the Alliance); the Scottish Fair Trade Forum (SFTF); and the Scotland Malawi Partnership (SMP). These bodies help us raise awareness of global citizenship amongst the wider public in Scotland, on sustainable development and the impact on developing countries of everyday decisions around social, economic and environmental choices.

Governance and Safeguarding

In the Scottish Parliament debate on the Scottish Government’s Contribution to International Development Report 2017/18, which took place on 25 October 2018, a number of MSPs raised the importance of taking forward governance projects in Malawi.

On 19 November 2018, Minister for International Development, Ben Macpherson, wrote to the Chairs of the Parliament’s Cross Party Groups on Malawi, and on International Development.

In his letter, Mr Macpherson explained that:

• The content of the Scottish Government’s Development Assistance (competitive) funding stream of its programme is determined by the coverage and quality of the applications put forward by its external partners;
• The Scottish Government’s International Development Strategy in 2016 had brought forward a new Capacity Building funding stream; this was in recognition that there were important areas of cooperation which were not achieving support under our competitive rounds, and there were a number of bodies in Scotland with technical expertise which would like to partner with their peers in our partner countries, but which did not readily fit our then competitive-only funding model;
• With this [capacity building] funding stream now in place, the Scottish Government is better able to support partnership between institutions in Scotland and our partner countries on specific initiatives. This includes those that we currently fund such as the Police Scotland work on gender-based violence and child protection in Malawi and Zambia, and the partnership between Glasgow University and the College of Medicine, Malawi, to support the governance structures in the College becoming a university, both of which have governance at their core;
• Further, through the Scottish Government’s commitment to cross-Government Ministerial portfolio working for international development outcomes, wider work and partnerships are contributing towards SDG16 on governance; this includes the Scottish Government’s highly regarded HydroNation work on water resource management, governance and legislation, between our Government and the Government of Malawi.

Work to enhance safeguarding procedures similarly has important governance benefits. Last year, we highlighted that safeguarding would continue to form an integral part of our international development work in the years ahead, and that we would continue to work with regulatory authorities, with the Alliance, the Malawi Scotland Partnership (MaSP) and with UK Government’s Department for International Development on this important issue.

During 2018/19, we have worked closely with the Alliance and the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) to support the sector, in particular funding the Alliance to develop the “Safer for All” – Safeguarding Support Package, which launched last autumn and has been very well received.

Minister for International Development, Ben Macpherson, also called on the international development sector in Scotland at that time to deepen and mainstream safeguarding work, recognising that “changing social attitudes, shifting social consciousness, takes time – in all countries – but human rights are universal and inalienable”. Mr Macpherson also highlighted at the Alliance’s conference in December 2018 the gendered nature of sexual abuse; and that the abuse and harassment of women and girls is a symptom, as well as being a cause, of wider gender inequality. The OECD, in their 2017 ‘Better Governance for Gender Equality’ report, concludes that “providing equal access to public and economic opportunities to both men and women is vital to accomplishing a more sustainable economy and improving national well-being”. The World Bank also confirmed that gender equality leads to better human development outcomes. The Minister therefore asked that organisations in the international development sector in Scotland sign up to the Scottish Government’s Partnership for Change, and set a voluntary commitment for gender balance on their boards – of 50/50 by 2020, to demonstrate a real commitment to demonstrate the change we want to see, at home and abroad.

The First Minister reiterated the Scottish Government’s commitment to gender equality in February 2019, when she was appointed the inaugural #HeForShe Global Advocate by UN Women. Through this, the Scottish Government has become a signatory to the UN Women’s global solidarity movement for gender, pledging in doing so to make concrete commitments to advancing gender equality around the world and support UN Women in their work to end global gender inequality. As her appointment was announced in New York, the First Minister said:

“Progressing gender equality supports a basic human right and will help people flourish and reach their full potential, which will ultimately create a wealthier and fairer society.”

Human rights

Our commitment in our Strategy to embed human rights in all our development work is maintained, paying particular regard to the most vulnerable. As we continue to build on our programmes in Malawi, Zambia and Rwanda, by developing capacity building programmes between Scottish public bodies and those in our partner countries, and by forming new strategic partnerships with human rights organisations such as UN Women, we are particularly mindful of how we may better support rights and equalities for more marginalised groups, including women, children, those with disabilities, LGBTI individuals and persons with albinism in our partner countries.

In addition, the Scottish Government is committed to all our international work taking a human rights approach. As part of this approach, where the opportunity arises we will seek to remind countries that we engage with of their obligations under the treaties they have signed, encourage them to participate in international human rights monitoring mechanisms, and offer our assistance where we can. All Scottish Government officials are supported to consider human rights issues as part of their international engagement.